Operations of the Heart
by fadingtales
Summary: What do you do when you think you just lost your chance at true love? You self-destruct. Tony/Pepper, movie-verse.
1. Chapter 1: Tony

**Title**: Operations of the Heart  
**Author**: fading_tales  
**Pairing**: Tony/Pepper (Iron Man)  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Iron Man or any of their characters.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Summary**: What do you do when you think you just lost your chance at true love? You self-destruct.

I.

For the longest time they've been doing a little dance. Flirtation on his part, carefully worded replies on hers. They straddled the thin line between friendship and something a little more. Truth be told it's his fault. He has never really told her how much she really meant to him. Flirting doesn't count since he does that with everyone. But she knew. He was sure of it. Nevertheless "I love you's" were never exchanged. He felt it, God how he felt it. But again, such sentiments were never actually said in so many words.

He wasn't surprised when Hammer started talking to her more than business would require them. He assumed the bastard was just trying to poach his recently promoted business partner. It wouldn't be the first time. He was more shocked when one night he ran into them at Geoffrey's, obviously in the middle of a date.

"Well, looky here. Tony Stark."

"Justin. How are you?"

"Marvelous. I'm having dinner with your remarkable partner."

Pepper hasn't looked him once in the eye since he's approached their table.

"I see that."

The sting of betrayal made the blood in his veins run cold.

"Well, we better get back to our dinner."

"Yes… I guess you should."

She finally spares him one glance and a forced smile.

"See you tomorrow, Tony."

"Yes, Miss Potts. I'll see you tomorrow," he replies with what might seem to other as nonchalance, but to her well trained ears, it was hurt.

She always did know him best. He guesses that probably why she has such good aim at breaking his heart.

The next day they go back to work and pretend that nothing ever happened.

What she does on her own time is none of his business. But soon the sight of the two of them became a frequent appearance and the media hound quickly catches the scent of corporate scandal.

He bursts into her office one morning after reading the latest tabloids on their controversial affair.

"Are you insane? He's our biggest rival!"

"Tony-"

"I was going to let it go because it's your personal life and I don't have any right-"

"It _is_ my personal life and _no_, you do not have any right to meddle."

"You're my CEO, Potts. And you're canoodling with the head of my biggest competitor. That _makes_ it my business."

"Have you taken a look at our stocks lately? It's gone up at least 10%. If anything it's helping you business. And besides, you're not in the military defense business anymore so he's not your rival."

It's true. Although the immediate reaction was mixed, Stark Industries have been getting a lot of good free press since they've been dating. You'd think it was the opposite, but the charismatic Justin Hammer spins stories well. Hammer Industries take on new "green" innovations and at the press conference Hammer attributes the change to being "inspired."

"It's hard not to be when you're in the presence of someone as wonderful as the lovely Miss Potts," Hammer smarms.

The media eats it up. Tony suppresses a gag.

Pepper is handling it all very well and the board has actually been supporting the pairing. It seems like the only person not sold on the couple is _him_.

"So you're going to continue on seeing him."

"Look, Tony. It's not interfering with my job and it's not hurting the business. So… yes. I'm going to keep on seeing him."

He leaves slamming the door behind him.

---

Pepper stays true to her words. He continues to read about the couple in magazine articles, see them get featured on talk shows. He's even been pulled into the mess and has been asked on more than one occasion what he thought about his CEO and his business rival colleague being together. Every single time he answers, "No comment" and then goes to pour himself a glass of scotch.

---

One night after a particularly large drink, or several large drinks, she finds him sprawled on the grease-stained couch in his workshop.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Hammer having a moonlit dinner on the beach or something?"

"Justin doesn't like getting sand in his shoes."

Tony laughs a painful laugh. She was still in so many ways his Pepper. But then he remembers that she was never his to begin with.

"Tony, how much have you had to drink?" she asks concerned at the sight of the many empty bottles lying around his feet.

"Not much…" Not nearly enough to numb the pain in his heart at the sight of her. It was worse that that time Obadiah pulled out the arc reactor that kept metal shrapnel from piercing his heart. He'd gladly take Obadiah's betrayal over hers.

She begins to ceremoniously pick up the abandoned bottles and tidying up his workspace area. It's a familiar gesture and reminds him all the more of what he's lost.

"Stop."

She ignores him and continues to neatly pile up some of the drafts he drew for the new suit.

"I said STOP!"

He rips the paper from her hands startling her with his sudden rage.

"I told you to stop," he says, this time more quietly.

She doesn't answer him and merely stare back at him with those big blue eyes of hers.

"You need to stop. Stop seeing him."

"Why?"

"You know why, Potts."

She looks away from him.

"Stop seeing him," he repeats.

"Tony, I-"

He doesn't let her make her excuses. He efficiently silences those hurtful, tantalizing lips with his own.

She kisses him back and he's just so goddamn happy he almost thinks the excruciating agony of the past few months was worth it.

She should've listened to him the first time when he told her stop. The stacks of paper she so carefully piled on his desk are brusquely swept onto the floor when he grabs her by the waist and hoists her up on the table. He hasn't shaven and the feel of his 5 o'clock shadow rubbing against her smooth skin is a kind of masochistically good pain. The clothes that lay as barriers between them are quickly dealt with and they never pause long enough for her head to clear or for second thoughts to form. It's the first time he's felt like the world made sense.

---

He wakes up with her gone and she calls in sick the next day. He fights the urge the go looking for her, but he realizes maybe she needs her space right now. A few hours later he thinks twice and decides she's have enough "space" already from the last few months. He grabs his jacket and is on his way out the door when he finds Rhodey blocking the doorway.

"Have you seen the news?"

"What news? I've been in my workshop all day."

Rhodey has on a look that he only wear when great impending doom is near and Tony is afraid that perhaps WWIII has just been declared and he'd missed it.

"What's going on, Rhodey? Is there another terrorist attack or something?"

Images of horrific battle zone image fill his head. Innocent civilians scattering about, bullets flying through the air. The smell of burnt flesh and sulfur clinging to his nostrils. These were the things Tony was ready for. He could get in his suit in two minutes flat and be on his way halfway across the world in another ten.

"It's about Pepper."

Rhodey's words hit him harder than any nuclear missile head could. Images of war torn villages are replaced with an even more horrific mental visual.

"What's wrong with Pepper?! What happened? Is she okay?!"

A million questions spilled from his lips. His heart hammering away at his chest. Panic causes the arc reactor to turn hot from his increasing pulse rate.

"No, no. It's nothing like that."

A feeling of relief washes over him momentarily, but he could tell there was more to the story.

"Then what? Spit it out."

Rhodey hesitates for a few seconds before ripping out his already damaged heart.

"Hammer just proposed."

---

He doesn't wait for the colonel to fill him in on the details. He gets in the fastest car he has and in ten seconds flat he's recklessly racing down the road. He would have taken the suit, but he knew how she felt and thought of when she was the suit. He didn't want any more cons about him, about _them_ to be added to the list when he goes to talk her out of accepting Hammer's ill-timed proposal. He stops in front of her apartment, barges his way through the lobby and is almost at her room when he sees none other than Justin Hammer himself, beating him to the punch.

"So what are you going to do Pepper?" Hammer asks. "You haven't answered my question yet."

She's standing right inside the doorway and so he only sees Hammer's side profile, but it's her voice alright.

"Are you serious?" he hears Pepper say.

"You know I don't like to play games," Hammer replies with a smirk.

The smarmy bastard.

"I need to think about it…"

"Time is money, Pepper. You know that. What's there to think about? Stop trying to stall. Tell me… what's it going to be?"

A pause in the conversation gives him the opportunity to show himself. Before he could clear his throat, cough obnoxiously or make some other noisy indication that he was present, a single syllable resounds from inside Pepper's apartment and he stops short.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

Yes? Tony's heart is beating way too hard for it to be normal. He reasons that's what is interfering with his hearing because she couldn't have possibly said what he just heard her say.

"Yes… I'll marry you, Justin," Pepper's voice answers simply.

He turns around and leaves before he gets to witness the victorious, arrogant grin spread across Justin Hammer's face.

---

They could have been amazing.

Tear down the walls, kick open the doors. Burn the city to the ground. Paint it all red and crimson like. That kind of spectacular.

He sees her through the clear glass walls of her office, her back to the door, busy looking through some paperwork on her desk. He silently dismisses her assistant, who quickly and discreetly leaves for an early lunch break.

"What are you doing, Potts?"

Her back stiffens at the sound of his voice and she pauses in her ministrations, but quickly recovers and returns to her task.

"I'm getting ready some paperwork for tomorrow before the party," she answers nonchalantly.

The engagement party was announced just yesterday. He had burnt his invitation with a metal blow torch.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

She sighs and calmly states, "I'm going to get engaged. And I'm going to get married."

She doesn't ever turn around from sorting the paperwork on her desk to face him.

"Why?"

"Because that's the plan."

Fuck the plan. Didn't she know? They could have been amazing.

"Why?" he repeats as if he was a record she had broken.

"Because… he loves me."

If its love she wants he has more than enough of it. _More_ than more than enough. He's fucking drowning in it, suffocating from it. Can't breathe a single breath when she walks into the room.

She finally turns around to face him. She looks more tired than usual and the large diamond on her ring finger taunts at him as it twinkles in the early evening light.

"I have an appointment to attend to now. I'll see you later, Tony. Don't forget about that meeting on Tuesday."

She gathers up all her oh so important files and documents and without another word, leaves. It all end as abruptly as it started and he has no idea what to do with himself.

They could have been amazing. But they weren't. The walls remain in an upright position. The doors firmly closed. The city isn't on fire. And the only red thing is the memory of those perfectly painted fingernails of hers trailing down his back. Only a memory. They could have been fucking amazing. But they weren't. There's no spectacle here unless that of a broken man.


	2. Chapter 2: Pepper

**Title**: Operations of the Heart  
**Author**: fading_tales  
**Pairing**: Tony/Pepper (Iron Man)  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Iron Man or any of their characters.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Summary**: What do you do when you think you just lost your chance at true love? You self-destruct.

**II.**

The line drawn between light, meaningless flirtation and something more is clearly drawn between them. At least it was. Everything got blurred when he came back after Iraq. Those lingering gazes of his that she could usually brush off as mindless male biology carry a new hint of something more serious, more intentional, more dangerous than harmless flirting. She starts to play with the idea of being something more than a friend to him. She surprises herself by matching those intense looks of his with her own. At times their banter would turn silent and all they would just stare at each other meaningfully. All the feelings they had could be conveyed in such exchanges that could not, should not, will not be communicated with conventional words. It was… enough.

Thursday mornings she meets with Hammer Industries. True, Stark Industries and Hammer Industries are business rivals, but they're also colleagues. They would do well to put their heads together and strive towards a common goal instead of trying to undercut one another at every turn. A show of camaraderie will do S.I.'s new green and humane image some good. A point she's careful to remind Tony every time he complains about her spending too much time over there. Not like he has much choice. This was the compromise the government proposed after Tony announced to the world that he was a superhero. He's made his bed and now he's going to lie in it.

Despite all these things she says, she dislikes Thursdays. She does her best to be professional despite the many romantic overtures made by head honcho, Justin Hammer, and has been carefully, diplomatically rejecting his advances for quite a while now. Nevertheless the unpleasantness these meetings were necessary. Unlike Stark Industries, Hammer's company continues to manufacture deadly weapons and it makes her sleep better at night if she knows what they're up to. Pepper is fully aware of what is at stake with the government issued Stark-Hammer joint projects. What Stark Industries might consider a step to saving the planet, Hammer Industries can very well turn into the next Jericho if she lets them. It helps that she's friendly with the head honcho. Pepper and Justin had both gone to the same business school, although not at the same time, but still there was a sort of camaraderie from that common root that lent to an amiable relationship, at least when he's not hitting on her.

That particular Thursday meeting should have went like clockwork…except that Pepper had to reschedule because of a small emergency earlier in the day involving Tony, a few fire trunks and dummy running around spraying everything in sight with a fire extinguisher. She finally manages to get to H.I. headquarters and the receptionist had let her in to Justin's office to wait. She had been working on filling out some paperwork as she wait when her pen runs out of ink, it was just one of those days that never go right, and she goes over to Justin's desk to get a new one. There's several pens lined up neatly on the left side of his desk and Pepper reaches for one. She knows Justin won't hold borrowing a pen against her; after all he _has_ met Tony before and knows how hectic her days are usually like. The paperwork she's working on was due yesterday but thanks to Tony's accident prone tendencies all her work has been severely backed up. As luck would have it Pepper's day just continues to go downhill.

Through sixty percent happenstance and forty percent genetically wired clumsiness, Pepper manages to knock down one of Justin's paper weight. It just so happens that the expensive paper weight was hiding a switch on Justin's desk top and it just so happens that in Pepper's efforts to steady herself she activates that switch which opens the hidden compartment in Justin's oversized industrial desk.

It was all so simple. She just needed a pen. Unfortunately, Pepper has a penchant for stumbling upon evidence of nefarious underhanded plots against her boss and the world at large.

One of the hardest things about Tony and his superhero alter ego was that she could only watch from the sidelines. With every other aspect of Tony's life she had some degree of control, but with _this_ all she could do was wait and pray that he comes back after a mission in one piece. The number of bullet holes she counts in his armor increases exponentially, the number of cuts and bruises peppering his body even more so. It makes her nervous, anxious, frustrated, so much to the point that she had begun to hate the sight of him in his iconic red and yellow suit. She no longer stay to watch him leave for a mission, but rather busies herself upstairs with the preparing the proper antiseptics and bandages for when he comes back.

She just wants to be able to do… _something_. She is willing to do anything to not feel quite so helpless. So after finding damning evidence that Hammer Industries had somehow stolen the specs for a Mark V suit and most importantly the arc reactor, she could not have very easily sit on her hands or twiddle her thumbs.

Nevertheless, she would give much to not be in her current situation at this particular moment. Hell! You'd think a genius like Justin Hammer would know to accident-proof his stash of spoils won from corporate espionage. What was the world coming to if all it took was a frazzled executive having a bad day to uncover illegal corporate conspiracies? It would be funny if it wasn't happening to _her_.

A swell of déjà vu washes over her as she recalls being in a strikingly similar situation with one Obadiah Stane. The same feeling of shock and betrayal stabs Pepper in the gut. You'd think she'd be able to handle it better the second time, but nevertheless she can feel the cold sweat trickling down her temples and despite her efforts to control her emotion, she can't stop the trembling of her hands.

From outside the mahogany office she hears the muffled voices of Hammer and his secretary speaking. She looks up from her crouched position and sees the blurry silhouette of Justin Hammer approaching through the frosted glass of his office door and she makes quick work to put everything back the way they were and gets back to her seat right in time for him to open the door and greet her.

"Pepper, did you wait long?"

"No, not at all. It was my fault the meeting had to be rescheduled anyways."

"Tony being difficult?"

"Not any more than usual."

"Well, if you ever want a change of setting…"

She struggles to conjure up a convincing smile despite the nervous twitching in her jaw.

"I'm very happy with Stark Industries, thank you."

"Ah, well…you can't blame me for trying," he says with a smile.

The way his eyes crinkle up looks genuine, but really Pepper can't tell who to trust anymore. Obadiah use to smile that way, too.

"I can't say that I'm not disappointed. Sometimes I think these meetings are merely formality and an excuse to see you on a regular basis."

"You flatter me, Justin."

She's tries to keep her comments calm despite every nerve in her body telling her to run and fast.

"Are you okay? You look a bit…"

He's walking over to his desk, giving its contents a once over and she panics a little.

"…tired," he finishes.

She's not out of the woods yet.

"It's just one of those days. I haven't had a chance to eat yet."

Justin glances at his wristwatch and frowns. "It's already five thirty."

"Already?"

She mentally slaps herself on the forehead the moment the lame answer left her lips. The nervousness makes her a little stupid. Of course it is five thirty. That's the time she rescheduled the meeting to wasn't it? Pepper tends to obsess over little details under stress.

"If you don't have anything else… what do you think about moving this meeting to a restaurant? You could call it multi-tasking."

Her instincts are screaming at her to say no and make a quick exit. This is all too much like the last time she spoke to Obediah, right before he tried to crush her with his giant robot suit. For the second time in the last ten minutes she asks whatever higher being up there why is it that she's always the one caught in these perilous situations.

"I…"

"Come on, Pepper. It's just dinner."

"Just dinner."

"Just dinner," he repeats. "Unless you want it to be something more."

He waits patiently for her answer and a smirk graces his lips when she answers, "Alright… but just dinner."

Pepper is no spy, she knows this. The only logical reason that she can think of for being so stupid as to try and go undercover as Hammer's girlfriend in order to unearth his diabolical master plans was that she's finally going insane from the massive overtime stress she has endured being Tony Stark's P.A. for so long. Maybe prolong exposure to some sort of radiation or another that fried the part of her brain that kept her from doing crazy things. She blames Tony for all of it.

Really. It's all Tony's fault.

_She_ was supposed to be the voice of reason. _He_ was the one that came up with crazy ideas that ends up with her working overtime to clean up after. It used to be so easy when he was just Tony Stark, billionaire man whore who was an engineering genius on the side. Not that she was saying he was a complete monster. He had his occasional sweet moments, too. But it was just so much easier when he was this stereotypical playboy. She could compartmentalize her work life and her personal life back then much better. Then he had to go all noble on her and become a super hero. She always used to admire his genius. Now she admires the man behind the genius. The one that jettisons off to halfway across the globe on a rescue mission because of unruly, violent insurgents in a third world country or to brave crumbling buildings to unearth victims of a massive earthquake. Tony was supposed to be the hero here, not her.

But he's not here right now and she is. And she can't, in good conscience, turn a blind eye. As Pepper conjures up the will power to say yes to Hammer's dinner proposal, she tries her best to recall all the super heroine stories she's ever heard of and try and imagine that they all ended happily.

Dinner with Justin Hammers goes from singular to plural quickly over the course of the week. Tony is not happy. If situation was not happening to her she might have laughed at the sheer idiocy of it all and the potentiality for the basis of a bad rom-com movie. She'd be willing to fork over quite a bit of money (Stark Industries pays her well. They would have to since she's the only one who seems to have any semblance of control over one Tony Stark) for someone else to walk a mile in her shoes for just one day.

She becomes friends with Hammer's assistant, a source of great knowledge of when and where the man would be at all times. This gives her little windows of opportunity to snoop in his office and the headquarters under the appearance of a doting girlfriend. She's leaving him a little gift or he forgot something at her place. Those were her excuses. Or when Hammer ever goes off agenda, she always has the 'surprise girlfriend visit' defense. When they have actually scheduled to meet she always makes sure that she shows up when Justin is expected to arrive shortly, but early enough that she would have time to "wait" in his office.

The amount of stolen intelligence property from Stark Industries she discovers is staggering. She has no idea how Hammer could have gotten his hands on the complete blueprints of an arc reactor. Tony had always been very good at keeping his trade secrets _secret_. She suspects there's a mole in the company and that thought alone sends chills down her spine. The thread she follows leads her to a tangled web of conspiracy that she quickly realizes is too big for her to handle. She needs to end this and fast.

Her plan takes an unexpected turn when the impossible happened. Justin Hammer proposes. And at the worst time possible. She's still reeling from the emotional turmoil from last night with Tony. In his workshop. On the _table_. The mere memory of it makes her blush a bright red. She was emotionally and physically drained what with maintaining double personas constantly for the past three months. Tony's sad puppy dog eyes didn't help matter. It was stupid and reckless and potentially dangerous what with her supposedly in a serious relationship with Justin Hammer. Who, by the way, just _proposed_. As in holy matrimony. The whole shebang.

Something went seriously wrong.

She somehow manages to excuse herself without answering her proposal despite the onslaught of television reporters and rushes home. There were too many odd things going on at dinner. Something was off. She doesn't get much time alone with her thoughts however because sure enough there's a persistent knock at her door. And sure enough it was Justin.

"So what are you going to do Pepper?" Hammer asks. "You haven't answered my question yet."

"Are you serious?" She asks, trying to keep the trembling from entering her voice.

There's a slightly menacing twinkle in his eye accompanying that disarming smile that makes her stomach clench.

He knows. Oh god! He _knows_.

He must have found out some time ago, but when? She doesn't know the details, but the jigsaw puzzles are finally clicking into place. It explains the whole grand proposal at dinner with the press ready with their little cameras flashing. Truth be told, she's surprised she lasted this long. In retrospect, it might have been quite obvious something fishy was going on with the relationship when she wouldn't let him get past second base. Those are kinds of things would tip off a guy you're suppose to be serious about that you're really just into him because he's hell bent on destroying the world with evil technology stolen from your company and that you're just trying to stop him because you're really in love with your boss and he's sort of a super hero that would frown up world destruction.

"You know I don't like to play games," Hammer replies with a smirk.

What does he call what he's doing right now? He's toying with her. The way a cat would toy with its victim before it eats it. He's trying to see how far she's willing to go.

"I need to think about it…"

Stall. That's what she needs to do. Just stall and hope that angels will come out of the ceiling and whisk her to safety whilst erasing everyone's memory of the last few months. Yeah, she just needed a freaking miracle.

"Time is money, Pepper. You know that. What's there to think about? Stop trying to stall. Tell me… what's it going to be?"

A long silence that is so thick you can practically slice it in the air gathers between them. A sort of calm overcomes her in the duration. She realizes that there's not much she can do at this point except see it through till the end. Tony might have been the gambler in their little club, but Pepper knows a thing or two about poker faces.

"Yes."

There's the thing about Pepper. When she's backed into a corner with no way out and her sympathetic system kicks it it's almost always fight rather than flight. Her mother had always called her hardheaded.

"Yes?"

"Yes… I'll marry you, Justin," Pepper's voice answers simply.

He smiles the most infuriating, amused, self-satisfied smile she's ever seen and she regrets that fateful day she opened the drawer to his desk and discover all those missing Stark technology blueprints. If only Tony would invent a time machine they would all be saved a lot of trouble. Even as she thinks this she can almost hear Tony, from a happier, easier time, chiding her about the paradoxes of time travel. As if he doesn't break several laws of physics on a daily basis. God, she misses him. If Pepper would allow herself to feel anything at the moment, she would probably break down and cry.

**A/N**: Thank you for all of those who read and reviewed! I feel like I made Pepper a little out of character in this chapter… I will try to get it better in the next. The plot is bit a contrived, I know. And lots of plot holes and mistakes abound. It's my first time writing an IM fic so it's a little hard to get into the groove of things. This was just a little fun fic I was trying out while I obsess over the new movie coming out. I hope you all still enjoy it. Once again, thanks so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: The Operation

**Title**: Operations of the Heart  
**Author**: fading_tales  
**Pairing**: Tony/Pepper (Iron Man)  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Iron Man or any of their characters.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Summary**: What do you do when you think you just lost your chance at true love? You self-destruct.

**III.**

The joke's on her because no one pulls a fast on Justin Hammer and gets away with it. The engagement party is as ritzy and glamorous as the best of them. Justin Hammer spares no expense, his lovely (albeit lying and manipulative) bride-to-be deserves only the best.

Somewhere beneath that expensive Armani suit and smarmy exterior, he's almost a bit disappointed. Pepper Potts had always been the picture of an upright, honest, no-nonsense woman. He might not have loved her, but he fooled himself into thinking he was fond of her. Call it admiration of the impossible tasks she deftly handles with poise on a daily basis working under the notorious Anthony Stark. She was talented, that was for sure, and quite the picture in her silk green dress and coiffed hair.

Across an ocean of lavishly dressed individuals, he sees his fiancé smiling face and is reminded again to never trust a woman.

* * *

Pepper spends the evening schmoozing with various men and women of means when all she wants to do at the moment is curl up in her bed with a good bottle of wine (or two) and attempt to forget what's going on. She sees Rhodey arrive with a tentative congratulation on his lips and a concerned look in his eyes. She can't blame him. He's caught between Tony and herself and doesn't know where his loyalties should lie. She almost wishes he would just pick Tony's side because then it'll at least comfort her to know that he has not been left completely alone. That's the thing about being a famous billionaire genius, who's also a superhero. It can get really lonely.

Rhodey presses a soft kiss on her cheeks and the smile she had on all evening starts to falter. She quickly excuses herself from the colonel's company and makes a quick run towards the ladies' room before her mascara starts running. Justin intercepts her halfway there with a seemingly endearing touch at the elbow.

"Aren't you tired of this yet, Pepper?" he whispers.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lies.

"How about you at least try to conjure a more convincing smile? You wouldn't want our guests to think that you're unhappy, would you?"

She lays her hand on his to try to remove it, but he only grips tighter. "I need to use the ladies' room," she bites out.

Hammer smiles and drops his hand.

"Ah, well. Just hurry back. This is a joyous occasion and we can't have an engagement party without the bride-to-be."

Once she's in the ladies room, Pepper locks herself into a stall and hyperventilated a little. It's almost startling how different Justin can get within a few days' time. She had always known intellectually what Justin was capable of, but in the beginning it was sometimes hard to remember that the guy who would send her Chinese food from Mr. Chow's (her favorite) because he wanted to make sure she ate dinner could be the same guy whispering threats to her in a ballroom full of people with a smile on his face.

She realizes that she really can't keep this up anymore. In two weeks, Hammer is planning on a huge shipment of some kind (something devious, she's sure of it) and she needs to quit her sniveling self pity and get her game on before that happens. So she splashes water on her face, reapplies her mascara and marches out the ladies room with a confident stride straight towards Colonel James Rhodes.

The colonel seems to have been wrestling with internal struggles himself and perks up at the sight of her.

"Pepper, I need to talk to you," Rhodey begins.

Before Pepper could reply sounds of a commotion interrupts her. There's a shriek and a crash and soon everyone is rushing towards the hotel ballroom's entrance to see what is going on. From the center of it all, she hears Tony's voice.

Pepper manages to push herself through the crowd to find a disheveled Tony, reeking of scotch, tackling Justin Hammer into a glass wall causing it to shatter and various elderly women to scream hysterically. Several chairs are upturned and various china lie broken on the floor as the two grown men go at each other. Justin lands a good one on Tony's right cheek and the sound of it makes her wince.

So much for all that previous control and determination she had earlier.

"Tony! Stop it! Justin! Oh my god!"

Currently Tony managed to get on top of Justin and was punching him repeatedly in the face. Pepper isn't usually a fan of violence, but she couldn't help but smile inwardly that Justin Hammer was getting what he deserved.

Soon security guards and one Colonel James Rhodes manage to pull the two men off of one another. Tony is now sporting a big ugly bruise on his cheek and a few cuts on his forehead. Her first instinct was to rush to him, but Justin catches her eye and says her name. As if the sound of her name had awoken him from his red rage, Tony looks up and sees her.

"Pepper…" he whispers.

The previous anger and fury in his eyes soften to something much more devastating. She silently shakes her head at him and from the corner of her eyes she sees security making their way through the crowds.

"Get him out of here!" Hammer screams and the men in uniforms quickly rush to oblige.

She could see the guests already beginning to murmur and gossip amongst themselves, sending her judgmental sideways looks that make her blood boil.

"Pepper," Justin beckons.

Tony shoots her one last apologetic look when security hoists him up, but she turns away to attend to her fiancé's new black eye. Hidden from the public's view, Justin looks up at Pepper with one squinted eye and smirks. Pepper struggles to suppress the urge to make a matching twin for his new black eye.

Security hauls Tony away while the media has a field day. The party is ruined and so is her life. Rhodey attempts to talk to security, but they're having none of it. He sees her and jogs on over.

"I'm sorry for this, Pepper. I didn't know he was coming."

"It's not your fault, Rhodey."

He looks like he wants to say more, but is hesitant.

"I better go look after him," Rhodey sighs, turning to leave. Pepper touches his shoulder before he goes and he looks back at her expectantly.

"Hey, I need to talk to you. But I can't right now… Can you meet me at the café on Heathercliff once Tony is asleep? Say, at 4 am?" Pepper requests.

Rhodey is puzzled by the request, but silently nods in agreement before running off to find Tony and Pepper goes on to try and salvage what is left of her engagement party with a smile besides her dubious fiancé.

"I didn't send Tony an invitation," she insinuates underneath her breath, in between the apologetic smiles she sends her guests.

"He's your boss, of course I should invite him to your engagement party," Hammer returns.

"What did you say to him? Did you arrange all this?" she demands in hushed angry whispers.

"Now, now, Pepper. You're letting your imagination get the best of you. I'm not nearly that devious." She'd be willing to bet he's probably ten times more devious than he'll let on. "Tony can get so emotional sometimes. I guess it finally hit him that his beloved CEO was getting married."

He leaves her with a final smirk despite the split in his lip. More than ever, Pepper is resolved to get herself out of this mess and knock Justin Hammer down several pegs. If it weren't for the hundred or so guests as witnesses, she would've liked to shove Hammer through the _other_ glass wall.

* * *

It is 3:35 am in the morning and Pepper finds herself sitting outside the closed café, hugging herself against the cool early morning breeze. She's jittery and anxious and half an hour early, sitting in the cold because she couldn't sleep all night from worrying about Tony's stupid bruised face. Did Rhodey get him home okay? Did he disinfect and bandage his cuts correctly? These were the thoughts that constantly ran through her mind, disabling her from getting any sort of rest whatsoever.

Eventually the clock strikes four and Rhodey arrives right on the dot. He's strolling towards her in running pants and a pullover and Pepper realizes she has never seen the colonel in civilian clothes. It makes him look almost ordinary and not the upright, disciplined war machine that he is. He pulls up a chair beside her, the sounds of metal grating against the concrete feeding the pounding in her head, and sits himself down.

"How is he?" she asks immediately.

There's no need for clarification, they both know she's referring to the big ole idiot who got himself in a fist fight and then dragged away by security.

"He's fine. A bit scratched and bruised, but it's mostly his ego that got deflated."

"I see…" she replies calmly. Her calm seems to irk the colonel whose mouth twitches involuntarily.

Colonel Rhodes studies his long time friend and ponders to himself how is it that she always managed to look so damn calm despite everything. It is a trait he alternately admires and admonishes. The façade of tranquility was Pepper's defense mechanism, her way of coping and her way of distancing people, she uses it well.

"I know it's your life, Pepper. But he's a total mess and I just don't buy it that you would–"

"Rhodey, please-" She begins, but he doesn't let her.

"No! You're my friend, but so is he! And I just think you're making a mistake getting married like this!"

If there were any two people who were so _wrong_ for each other that they made a complete 360 and were completely _right_ for one another, it would be Pepper and Tony. Rhodey had always imagined that one day they'd stop all the nonsense, get together, bicker some more and live moderately happily ever after.

"I'm not getting married!" she bursts out.

The colonel's face was suddenly still with surprise.

"You're not?"

"No… well… yes. I mean!" She doesn't even know how to begin.

She meets Rhodey's eyes and the colonel merely raises one neatly groomed eyebrow at her. Despite the sweatpants, James Rhodes looks every inch the intimidating military man that he is.

"I'm way over my head here," she sighs finally.

"That's the most sense I've heard out of you all week."

He reaches across the table and squeezes her cold hand comfortingly. She manages a small genuine smile for the first time in weeks and starts think that not everything is quite as unsalvageable as she had originally imagined, just for a brief second.

"Rhodey… I think I'm in big trouble."

She tells Rhodey everything, how she had found those stolen specs on the reactor and the Mark V suit. How she got in too far too fast. The colonel doesn't say a word until she finishes spilling her guts.

"I just thought if I could get close to him…"

"That you would find out what he was going to do with all that stolen technology?"

"It wasn't just about stealing from Stark Industries. As great as the arc reactor technology is as a good clean source of energy… in the wrong hands…"

"'_Now I am become Death, the_ _destroyer of worlds__,'"_ Rhodey replies.

"Exactly. We've already been through this once before. I'm sick of sitting by the sidelines, Rhodey. I'm tired of just waiting for him to come home, hopefully with all body parts still intact. I didn't want to tell him and have him jettison off again. I… I wanted to protect him."

Pepper doesn't notice when it was that a tremble had started to enter her voice and she coughs to try and regain her composure.

"As noble as that is, this is too dangerous."

"I know that. Don't you think I know that? But I thought I could get Justin to trust me. It's too late now."

"You need to just tell him."

_Him _being Tony who was absolutely the last person she could ever tell.

"And what's he going to do? Try tacking Justin Hammer through a glass wall again?" she snarks.

"Well what are you going to do about it then?"

"I need proof. Solid, undisputable proof that Justin Hammer and Hammer Industries is double dealing with terrorists in the black market. Once I have that I can expose him for the bastard he is."

"And how are you planning on achieving that?"

"He has a shipment going out soon, but I don't know what yet. If I could find out and intercept it-"

"Stop right there, Pepper. I don't like the sounds of this. You're just one person, you can't do this alone."

"I'm not doing it alone. This is why I asked for you. I need to know that you'll have my back."

"You're not trained, Pepper. From what you told me, Hammer is already on to you, what happens if he catches you? If things go south…"

"If things go south then I'll send out an S.O.S. signal."

"And if I can't get to you fast enough?"

"It's just a risk I'll have to take."

"This is insane!"

"You risk your life for your country everyday! How is what I'm doing any different?"

"Yeah, but I also have backup that consists of more than a single colonel. I have tanks and trained soldiers and sufficient firearms and bulletproof vests! We have to at least tell Tony."

"No! You can't! I don't have that option right now. Hammer threatened to makes things very difficult for Stark Industries and you know we're already walking on thin ice with the government. One wrong move and they'll take everything away. How would Tony be of any help then if his suit is gone? I'm already risking a lot talking to you like this."

"He won't let them take it."

"I don't want him involved," she repeats. "I'm not going to have him save me like a damsel in distress. This is my mess and I'll clean it up myself. If you're not going to help me, then I'll do it on my own."

"No, no. I won't let you do that," the colonel sighs. Despite his gut telling him that everything about Pepper's fool-hardy plan was exactly that, fool-hardy, he agrees. "Fine, I'm in."

* * *

Monday rolls around and Pepper exhales loudly before entering the Hammer Industries headquarters. Justin had replaced his old assistant with a new burly male who looks more suited to be a body guard than a secretary. Pepper's guilty conscience reminds her that it was her fault that the previous assistant had been fired and she adds that to the list of casualties her stupidity and bravado had resulted in.

The new assistant, the name tag clipped on his Hammer Industries issued polo reads Hank, sits at his desk furiously concentrating on typing up a document and with some difficulty Pepper notices. She flashes him a smile which he doesn't return.

"Mr. Hammer is not in right now," he states plainly, but Pepper already knew that.

She fakes surprise and embarrassment.

"Oh! But I brought him coffee and everything. I was hoping to surprise him… I had a sudden meeting cancellation and only have an hour free today and I know he works late tonight."

Hank merely looks back at her blankly. This was harder than she originally thought.

"Ah, well… would you like to have his coffee instead? I'm sure it has been really busy lately and I know how hard it is to be an assistant. I do work for Tony Stark after all."

It seems her smile and offer of some free caffeine finally managed to break Hank's cold exterior and he offers her a grateful smile as he reaches for the paper coffee cup in her hands.

"Thank you, Miss Potts."

"No, thank you for all the hard work you've done."

She waits until Hank takes a generous gulp of the coffee she laced with some strong sedative. Sure enough, Hank's eye lids soon grow heavy and his head rolls to one side as he falls asleep, his mouth hanging open a little as a snore escapes it. She quickly pushes him aside, although she pauses long enough to close his mouth for him, and uses his username and password to logon to Justin Hammer's personal schedule.

After wading through numerous corporate meetings and social events she sees that there's a suspiciously vague three hours allotted to 9-12pm tonight at the docks. It's already 6:45pm and the dock is at least a good hour away. She programs the rest of Hammer's schedule into her PDA and hightail it out of there before Hank could utter another snore.

On the way to the docks she emails the bulk of information she got off of Hank's dismal computer access to the colonel as well as a text that informs him where she's heading.

* * *

The sun has already set by the time she reaches her destination. She takes off her Manolos to avoid making unnecessary noise as she tiptoes over to the large warehouse that was the location described on Justin's schedule. She breathes a sigh of relief when the lock on the door is electronic and whips out the keypad hacker she borrowed from Tony's little electronics collection the last time he tried to lock her out of the Stark Industries office in an effort to try and make her play hooky with him. That was five months ago and she would trade anything to go back in time.

Brushing her hair out of her face and pushing aside unnecessary thoughts, Pepper manages to break into the dark warehouse. It is completely dark in there and after stumbling for a while, she manages to find a light switch along the right wall.

After the initial blindness that happens when light suddenly illuminates an otherwise pitch black room, Pepper is faced with a frightening sight. Before her eyes were rows upon rows of what looks like Mark V suits. They all stood there like the terracotta warriors in Shi Huang Di's tomb. The implication of this scene was the stuff of Pepper's worst nightmare.

Overcoming her initial shock at how much Hammer had managed to achieve with the stolen Stark Industries tech, she quickly tiptoes to large work station located in the middle of the large assembly line of intimidating metal warriors. She can't help but feel as if the silent suits of armor were somehow slumbering and should she make the tiniest noise they would wake. After acquiring access into the mainframe and digging through technical jargon, Pepper finds what she was looking for. Before her the screens lights up with stolen Stark technology blue prints, but what put fear into Pepper's heart was the modifications. Those sleeping suits of armors weren't suits. They're androids.

Large, powerful, conscienceless weapons of mass destruction if there was ever any. And Hammer planned on shipping over a dozen of them to North Korea.

"Oh my god…" she whispers.

"I really wished you didn't just see that."

Pepper whips around at the sound of Justin Hammer's voice behind her. She thought she was being careful and he wasn't supposed to be there until at least a couple of hours. She takes a deep breath and allows herself to meet his eyes, her expression a mask, her right hand clenching into a fist.

"I'd say I'm surprised to find you here, but we both know that's not true."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Justin."

"Are we really going to keep up this charade? I'm going to have to ask you back away from my prototypes, Pepper. They're worth a lot you know… wouldn't want you to accidently damage anything," he says in a tone that was menacing despite its light content.

He takes an intimidating step towards her and she takes a nervous step back.

"Pepper," the bespectacled CEO warns.

"I'm calling the police."

She knew she wasn't going to get any help from the police, but she did have enough time to speed dial the colonel. She used the emergency phone he had had given her and any call from that would signal to Rhodey that she was in distress, that the plan had gone sour.

Rhodey picked up after the first ring and she had managed to form half of the word "help" before Hammer had his muscle wrestle it away from her and smash it underneath their steel toed boots.

"Pepper? What's going on in there? Pepper?" The only sound that answered Rhodey was static and he slams his hands against the steering wheel of his car. "Dammit!"

Back at the warehouse, Pepper wishes she still had on her shoes so that she can slam their heels into one of the body guard's eyeballs.

"Let me go!" Pepper screams futilely as one of the large men hoists her up and throws her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Justin says with a condescending frown. "Gentleman, if you could just secure Miss Potts to the chair and lock down the building…" The way he says it sounds as if he was merely going through protocol. As the large men tie up her hands and feet, Pepper imagines Hammer Industries doing routine drills for subterfuge and covert illegal activities.

Quickly and efficiently, Pepper finds herself secured to a chair and the guards sent off to patrol the building, leaving her alone with the villainous white collar criminal. Justin paces back and forth in front of her, pressing two forefingers against his mouth in that particular way he does when he's thinking.

"You're stupid if you think you can get away with this."

Pepper is hoping that she can goad him enough that he'll be distracted and she can reach that small knife in her pocket that Rhodey made her take since she had refused his gun. For a high tech company, Hammer's security had used simple rope to bind her hands and feet and she thanked God for that little blessing. She wouldn't have known what to do if they had handcuffed her to the chair.

"Double dealing? Not very original of you. Obadiah Stane already pulled that stunt."

"Yes, well I'm not really going for originality here. Just chasing the black. Hard times you know? Besides, with Stark Industries going the superhero route, all but abandoning the military defense market, there's a void to be filled. And so Hammer Industries will step up to the plate."

"There's still time. You don't have to go through with this."

She's pleading now.

"You love him that much, huh?" he states a little sadly. He almost sounds human and it throws Pepper off.

"Please, Justin."

"You know… you're a better actress than you look. Let me guess… drama major before you decided to go the finance route? You had me fooled for a good while, but I think you should stick to your day job."

He moves over to perch himself on the desk near her.

"Tell me, Pepper. How long has it been exactly that you've been playing undercover for Tony? Truthfully I'm surprised he would let his beloved Miss Potts do such a thing-"

"I wasn't doing anything for Tony. I did what I did for the millions of lives that would be lost because you're bent on making an extra buck."

* * *

An hour away from the docks, Rhodey struggles between the choice of betraying Pepper or saving Pepper the best way he knows how. In the end the latter wins over and he makes a sharp U-turn towards the direction of the Stark mansion.

After incessantly ringing the doorbell, Tony answers his door smelling as if he hasn't showered in days. Rhodey pushes himself past the disheveled billionaire and makes quick strides to the workshop down below.

"What do you think you're doing, Rhodey?" Tony calls after him.

Rhodey doesn't bother listening, but instead commands Jarvis to get the Iron Man suit ready. Jarvis is reluctant to comply and Rhodey slams his fists against the computer board.

"Hey! What's going on here?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you, but this is out of my hands."

"What is it?"

Tony has never seen the colonel so flustered before and it puts a bit of fear into his heart.

"Pepper needs you."

A/N: So sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I was hitting some serious writer's block. I hope you enjoyed it and please ignore all the massive plot holes and absurd reasoning. _ Thanks for reading!


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